Carolina cookin’ : Heels make pulled pork out of Hogs
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008
RALEIGH, N. C. - A perfectly horrible Razorback start led to a perfectly horrible Razorback finish against the nation's nearly perfect college basketball team playing nearly perfect.
North Carolina's Tar Heels, No. 1 in the nation and of course the No. 1 seed in the NCAA East Regional, stomped ninth-seeded Arkansas with a 51-26 first half en route to a 108-77 secondround victory Sunday afternoon at the RBC Center.
"North Carolina played a great game," Arkansas first-year coach John Pelphrey said. "And we couldn't do a whole lot to slow them down offensively or defensively."
The Hogs aren't the Lone Ranger in getting trounced by the Tar Heels.
"They would have beaten anyone the way they played today," Arkansas senior small forward Sonny Weems said. "They are not the No. 1 team in the country for nothing."
In his five years as point guard at Mississippi State and Arkansas, Gary Ervin said only Florida's 2006 and 2007 national championship teams compare with these Tar Heels.
"Florida did it two years," Ervin said. "But this team does things you just don't see in transition."
As top-seed, Carolina played just 30 minutes from its Chapel Hill campus, but the Tar Heels weren't relying oh their blue-clad fans.
"I don't think the environment was our problem," Pelphrey said. "North Carolina was."
It was the second worst NCAA Tournament loss in Razorback history behind Oscar Robertson (50 points ) and the Cincinnati Bearcats putting a 97-62 whipping on the 1958 Southwest Conference champion Hogs in the West Regional consolation game.
North Carolina, 34-2, advances to the Sweet Sixteen and again doesn't have to leave its home state meeting Washington State on Thursday night in Charlotte.
They advance after sizzling the Razorbacks by shooting 44 of 65 from the field including 8 of 16 treys and fast-breaking with 28 assists versus 7 turnovers. Four of Carolina's starting five - Deon Thompson, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, respectively scored 16, 17, 19 and 20 points with Hansbrough netting 10 boards and Lawson 6 assists. Off the bench, Alex Stepheson scored 10 points on 5 for 5 shooting, adding to Thompson's 8 for 8 for a powerful 13 for 13 from the power forward spot. The starter who didn't score 10, Marcus Ginyard, guarded Weems, Arkansas' best player with 31 points against Indiana. Weems got 19 Sunday but needed 20 shots to do it hitting eight with just 1 for 6 on treys. Arkansas senior center Darian Townes bowed out with a near double-double, 15 points and 9 rebounds, and sophomore guard Patrick Beverley scored 14 hitting 6 of 8 from the field. The Hogs could score on Carolina after starting down 9-0, but "we just couldn't get any stops," Ervin said. Arkansas, 23-12, is done for the season.
However, Pelphrey's Razorbacks leave Raleigh with last Friday night's 86-72 first-round victory against Indiana, Arkansas' first tournament triumph in five tries since former coach Nolan Richardson's Razorbacks won their first-round game against Siena in 1999. "I think we can leave with our heads held high," center Steven Hill, one of Arkansas' six seniors, said. "Three straight NCAA Tournaments, we won here at the tournament. And that was the No. 1 team in the country we played today. They didn't miss out there."
Arkansas' perfectly horrible start, actually, was imperfectly horrible. Senior forward Vincent Hunter did start the game blocking a shot by Hansbrough, generally acknowledged the best player in college basketball.
After Hunter's block, the Tar Heels got to trouncing.
Arkansas opened with Beverley missing a three, Weems turning it over, Townes missing two free throws, and Hunter and Weems missing an inbounds connection for another turnover.
By then it was 9-0 and would get significantly worse.
Charles Thomas did stop the 9-0 run with a bucket at 16: 49, and Townes would drop the lead to seven again with a basket at 16: 20 down 11-4.
Carolina ran off a 7-0 run and dominated every phase.
Surprisingly, Arkansas just turned it over five times in the first half, and just nine times for the game, but the Tar Heels' defense kept everyone so blanketed that Arkansas shots often came rushed late in the clock and off the mark.
The Hogs' 10 of 28 first-half shooting included but 1 for 9 on treys and just 5 of 10 free throws after sinking 26 of 33 freebies against Indiana. Carolina came at Arkansas in waves the first half as Tar Heel coach Roy Williams alternated nine players without dropoff. Hansbrough opened the second half with a thunder dunk punctuating a period on any notion the Hogs would fare any better in the second stanza than they did in the first. "A team like that," Ervin said," No. 1 in the country, they aren't going to show mercy. They are not going to hold back. "Arkansas reserve guard Stefan Welsh, played four firsthalf minutes on the ankle he sprained during the Indiana game. Welsh wasn't fit and yielded backup guard duties to freshman Marcus Britt of Forrest City. Britt scored 5 points. The hammering hurt the Hogs, but their first-year coach reminded them and especially their seniors what was accomplished overall. "We lost this basketball game," Pelphrey said. "But we did not lose our season. Those guys were able to accomplish more than they did a year ago and for that I am very appre-
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